Police hunting UK terror cell

A national terrorist network behind the London suicide bombers began to emerge as it was revealed that the fourth killer was a Jamaican-born British teenager in Buckinghamshire.

Anti-terrorist officers and MI5 are racing to track down the other members of the terrorist unit, thought to include a bomb-maker and a planner.

Among those being investigated is a man in his mid-40s who stayed at the Leeds house where the suicide bombs were made, but left the country for Iraq months ago.

The man responsible for detonating the rucksack bomb outside King's Cross station, killing at least 25, was living in Aylesbury with his wife and was called Lindsay Jermalne.

Known as "Jermal", the bomber is thought to have driven about 20 miles to Luton train station where he met the other three suicide attackers who had driven down from Leeds on Thursday morning. The terrorists then travelled by train into King's Cross, where they split up and set off four bombs, killing at least 53 people.

A hire car thought to have been driven by Jermalne was found in the Luton station car park with explosives inside. Bomb experts detonated nine controlled explosions on the car before it was taken for forensic analysis.

Detectives believe the disclosure that one of the terrorist team had been living about 150 miles from the core of the suicide squad suggests a wider network of contacts, with the key figures possibly based in Luton.

There was confusion yesterday about spelling of the name of the King's Cross bomber and some suggestions that it could be a false identity. The young man, who was a bodybuilder, had apparently converted to Islam four years ago and worked as a carpet-fitter.

Police and the security services were investigating his background yesterday and tracing all his contacts over the past few months, at home and abroad.

His rented semi-detached home in Northern Road, in the multiracial town of Aylesbury, was raided by armed police at 7pm on Wednesday. Forensic specialists spent yesterday examining the property for clues to the movements and identity of the gang.

The discovery that the fourth bomber comes from a different background to the other three extremists suggests that they are part of a wider network.

Intelligence officers are trying to establish what links the two groups, whether they are both in contact with a radical cleric or have met in Pakistan.

The three Leeds-based bombers - Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shahzad Tanweer, 22, and Hasib Hussain, 18, - are known friends, all British-born of Pakistani origin.

As part of the Leeds inquiry, Army bomb-disposal experts were yesterday examining a former community centre in the Beeston area of Leeds. The building, in Lodge Lane, is a short distance from the home of Tanweer, the bomber who killed seven people in the Aldgate blast. The bombers may have met at the property.

It had been assumed the fourth bomber was also from Leeds and was one of the Asian group.

Detectives will also consider possible connections with another British citizen from Jamaica who turned to terrorism.

The best-known of the failed British suicide bombers is Richard Reid, from Brixton, south London, who was overpowered on 22 December 2002 while trying to light a cord in his shoe, the heel of which contained explosives, on a plane bound from Paris to Miami. Reid, a petty criminal who converted to Islam, was jailed for life in the United States in 2003.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Met's anti-terrorist branch, said yesterday that the police investigation had uncovered a "vast amount of information" but there were still many unanswered questions.

"Who actually committed the attacks? Who supported them? Who financed them? Who trained them? Who encouraged them?

"This will take many months of intensive, detailed investigation. This has been and still is a fast-moving investigation, with new leads emerging literally by the hour."

He added that officers had taken more than 500 witness statements and had seized more than 5,000 CCTV tapes.

Mr Clarke said detailed forensic examinations were still continuing at the scenes of the blasts and that searches were being made in West Yorkshire and Aylesbury.

Peter Neyroud, Chief Constable of Thames Valley, said of the house raid in Aylesbury: "This development shows terrorism is not something that happens to other people, is not something that develops in large cities but can happen in rural Buckinghamshire. This is why it is so important for all of us to be alert, play our part and work together to conquer these criminals."

As part of the inquiry, antiterrorist police are continuing to trawl through the thousands of hours of CCTV tapes, trying to trace the routes and contacts made by the four suicide bombers.

Reports that a "fifth" bomber was identified at Luton station standing with the four terrorists have been denied by two security sources. Instead, the police are investigating anyone who was seen near the bombers in case they have some association.

There have also been unconfirmed reports from the United States that the "mastermind" who co-ordinated the attacks is believed to be British and of Pakistani origin.

Security sources say that several possible al-Qaeda members are currently being investigated but that no one person has been identified yet as the prime suspect.

- INDEPENDENT